Virgulino Ferreira da Silva
was born in 1897 in the
Northeastern state of Pernambuco.
This is the hash country
described by Euclydes da Cunha in
his famous work, The Backlands
(Os Sertoes). It is a land of
little water, much cactus and
scrub vegetation, not unlike that
of the American Southwest.
Although one of the oldest areas
of Brazil, it has traditionally
been one of the most backward.
Few people received anything
beyond a rudimentary education.
Local society was ruled by large
landholders and political bosses,
often one and the same.

Captain
Virgulino, AKA Lampiao, in
typical hat

These bosses and/or landowners had
their armed men, just like the big
ranchers in Arizona or the Mafia street
enforgers. They were called Cangaceiros -
men of the Cangaço, as the badlands
are called.

Lampiao and Maria Bonita
with photographer The man was not camera
shy. No one seemed to have trouble finding
him except for the police.

As Virgulino grew up, he and his family
got entangled in the ever-present local
feuds, the reason being, of course,
defense of honor. The family somehow ended
up of the bad side of the local police,
and in a raid on his home, Virgulino's
father was killed. It was an event that
the police would regret. At age 25,
Virgulino became Lampião, the
scourge of the backlands and killer of
police and soldiers, which he always
called macacos (monkeys). For the next 15
years he would never be far from the
headlines of newspapers throughout
Brazil.

Lampiao is often said to be the Robin
Hood of Brazil. No way! Not unless Robin
Hood started his career robbing sick
bed-ridden 90 year old ladies.
Lampião was a complex man,
religious yet brutal. He was also vain,
appearing in dozens of photos and giving
interviews whenever possible. His band
rarely totaled more than 40 men, but he
would fight battles against up to 200
militia or special police.

Lampiao and company. One
of many pictures of the cangaceiros. They
are all armed to the teeth. Lampiao is
fourth from left in front row. Notice
characteristic dark glasses.

It is hard to imagine that a small band
of bandits was able to operate in the open
against state police and troopers for a
decade and a half. But in the Northeast of
Brazil in the 20s and 30s, the roads were
cattle trails, water was scarce, the
police corrupt, local bosses were fearful,
telegraph lines almost non-existent and
people didn't want any more trouble in
their already hard lives. Most of the
population had nothing that Lampião
or his band wanted.

Hero or
bandit?

Captain Virgulino, as Lampião
liked to call himself, had no shortage of
enemies. The fact that he would shoot any
officer or trooper on sight insured that
they would be mortal foes. The state and
local politicians resented his prestige
and power. But catching and killing
Lampião was not easy. He knew the
country side, he had spies, and he had
friends. Most of the police sent against
him were not overly enthusiastic about the
possibility of getting ambushed in the
brush. The cancageiros also had women in
their band. The most famous was Maria
Bonita (Pretty Mary), Lampião's
companion until death.

Because the police did nothing against
him, most of the people reluctantly helped
him. Not many folks joined him, however.
Lampião was not a revolutionary, he
was a bandit. Those who opposed him could
lose everything, including their lives. In
the event of betrayal or squealing to the
police, the cancageiros were merciless. On
the other hand, if Lampião and
company came to town, and he had no reason
to be mad at you, and you had nothing he
wanted, quite often he would arrange a
party with music and plenty of
cachaça, and everybody would have a
grand old time.

The dark side of
Lampiao

Not only did Lampião wipe out
whole households of enemies at times, he
would assault small towns and cities
alike, killing police, asking local
merchants for "contributions", seizing any
good he could carry off and often
distributing those which he could not to
the local population. Often women were
raped. Mostly, these were women associated
with the police and/or any opposing
faction. Early in his career,
Lampião and over 20 of his band
gang raped a young wife of a soldier,
while the poor man was forced to watch.
Incidents of Lampião digging out a
man's eyeballs with a knife and cutting
off a woman's tongue have also been
substantiated.

Death in the
morning

So Lampiao lost his head! It was a hard
life, and both sides were cruel.

In 1938, Lampião's long career
ended. In the end, he was betrayed by one
of the local supporters, who under threat
of torture, told the soldiers were the
outlaws were. On a beautiful July morning
50 soldiers armed with machine guns crept
up and surprised an equal number of
cangaceiros. About forty bandits managed
to escape, but the leaders were clearly
visible and were targeted in the first
shots. Lampião and Maria Bonita
were among the dozen bodies left dead
after 20 minutes of battle. To insure that
the news of Lampião's often
heralded demise would be believed, the
soldiers took the heads of the captives to
Salvador, were they remained on display
for over 30 years.

Lampiao's death signaled the
end of an era. Maria Bonita and
Lampião had a daughter,
who is still living last I heard.
The cangaceiros still live in
popular folklore, cordel
literature, comics, TV and
movies. Best of all, the band's
favorite song, Mulher Rendera,
which they would sing as they
went into a town, is a wonderful
tune almost every Brazilian
knows. For a good (and very
romanticized and sanitized)
version of Lampião and his
merry men, I recommend the movie
Lampião, O Rei do
Canganço with Leonardo
Vilar and Gloria Menezes.